Sarah McCallum, Associate Professor of Classics, has been named a recipient of the Society for Classical Studies’ 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching at the College Level.
The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), founded as the American Philological Association in 1869 by "professors, friends, and patrons of linguistic science," was renamed in 2014 as the result of a strategic planning process and membership vote following a successful capital campaign. It is currently the principal membership organization in North America for the study of ancient Greek and Roman languages, literatures, history, material culture and the relationship of Greek and Roman culture to the broader ancient Mediterranean and beyond.
The award description reads:
“Dr. McCallum is a pedagogical wizard.” So her students testify, and the magic is evident across Dr. McCallum’s teaching. Whether she is teaching courses in introductory Greek, advanced Latin, or courses in translation, Dr. McCallum’s courses can be counted on to expand students’ skills and give them help in applying them, with a “consistency of excellence” that is recognized by students and colleagues alike.
Innovation and consistency may strike some as strange bedfellows, but both are hallmarks of McCallum’s approach. Students praised the clear rhythm to her courses, allowing for focus on the work itself, rather than keeping track of what was due next. McCallum herself prioritizes this weekly rhythm to help support student’s time management and attention, a practice which neurodivergent students appreciate. Assignments themselves, however, are far from routine, and students regularly testify to joyful engagement with unique twists on traditional assignments, from “Word Journals” and close reading exercises in her course on Homer in Translation to Latin projects working with the apparatus criticus.
McCallum’s ethos as a teacher centers around an “equity-driven” pedagogy adapted to individual student growth, with recognition of the diverse needs and wants of her students. Both revision of errors and reflection are regular parts of McCallum’s assessments, incentivizing and motivating students to learn from mistakes and to adjust their approach to the course material when necessary. McCallum meets 1-on-1 with every student in every course for mid-semester “progress and strategy” meetings, in which she is able to provide personalized (if time-intensive) support, and this personal approach in turn inspires heavy use of office hours from students seeking even more coaching and feedback. While this is no doubt a massive investment of time and energy, the results are striking. Her students testify to dramatic improvements in their language skills. And those who have gone on to success at Ph.D. language exams, specifically spotlight her courses as key to that achievement.
The care and nurture which Dr. McCallum invests into her courses is apparent everywhere. Syllabi, assignments, and course sites alike are beautifully designed and carefully organized. Students love “the amount of passion Professor McCallum had for the texts we examined, and the respect she paid to each student and their individual ideas,” as an anonymous student says in one course evaluation, “I always felt comfortable expressing my thoughts and reactions to what we read thanks to the environment she created and fostered in the classroom.” It takes a very special kind of teacher to generate students that not only find inspiration in her kindness and support, but also express appreciation that “she maintained high standards and never allowed me to take shortcuts in my work.”
Professor McCallum’s teaching has already been recognized with multiple awards and nominations at the University of Arizona, but the SCS is delighted to join the chorus by presenting Sarah McCallum with the 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching of the Classics at the College and University Level.
Previously, McCallum received the College of Humanities 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award. That same year, she was one of three university-wide recipients of the Provost Award for Innovative Teaching.
She is the second recent Classics faculty member to receive the SCS Award for Excellence in Teaching at the College Level, following Robert Groves in 2020.